"Social media in the workplace"

Charleston's The Post and Courier features an article entitled "Social media in the workplace; Employers must balance the benefits and pitfalls of online interaction" following a webinar hosted by Nexsen Pruet attorneys David Dubberly and William Floyd.

Reporter Brendan Kearney's writes that "many companies still are trying to figure out exactly how to use social media for good while guarding against embarrassing or harmful misuses."

During the webinar, Floyd said issues surrounding social media are particularly complex because of how many players are involved. “We see employers scrambling to deal with it. We also see the employees encouraged by the ability to share information. And we see the National Labor Relations Board involved in the interaction between the two."

Dubberly told attendees that the NLRB is using provisions of the National Labor Relations Act to regulate social media.  That Act allows workers to form a union and "engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection." With that in mind, Dubberly urged employers to be cautious about social media policies that ban criticism of a company or supervisor.

Read more from The Post and Courier.

Nexsen Pruet has more than two dozen attorneys who help businesses with Employment and Labor Law matters involving litigation, employee benefits and executive compensation, business immigration, OSHA and worker's compensation.